3 Skills Your Candidates Need to Take On the Next Gen of Healthcare Employees

There’s a new generation of healthcare employees on the horizon and you need to get ready for them. Their new viewpoints, increased passion, and innovative approaches to care won’t just be changing patients’ lives — it’ll be changing who you hire.

In a recent Forbes article, Robert Peal, M.D., described the next generation of healthcare providers as people who have, “… acquired practical knowledge of the programs and approaches that lead to better health outcomes.”

Peal went on to explain that this generation has watched the healthcare field go through monumental changes. Both controversies and legislation have given them a brand new outlook and insight into the medical world.

Here are the type of medical sales reps you need to draw into your talent pipeline:

1. Ultimate tech experts

Technology is officially in every part of our personal and professional lives. It’s the driving force behind consumerism. However, in today’s rapidly evolving medical world, it’s also taking over how medical workers keep track of patient records, communicate, and even assess patients’ needs.

The increasing power technology holds over the future of healthcare is, often, unimaginable. From electronic health records to virtual visits and mobile health apps, there’s no doubt you need a team of tech-savvy medical sales reps.

When interviewing candidates, ask what role they believe technology will play in the future of healthcare. Do they believe AI is the front-runner? Or maybe it will be communication technology and a decreasing need to come into a physical office?

Listen for detailed explanations and specific examples to determine how up-to-date they are with current and pending technology. If they can easily hold a casual conversation with you about it during an interview, they’re prepared to go out into the field and chat with up-and-coming healthcare employees.

2. Customer-care aficionados

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) predicted, in a 2016 report, that the U.S. would spend a shocking $535 billion in 2018 on medication. That’s an overwhelming leap from the $356 billion spent in 2010.

While this number is huge, it only includes the estimated spending for medications, not other medical interventions. New healthcare employees see these high spending numbers but aren’t seeing the needle move in medical outcomes.

The future generation of healthcare employees recognizes the detrimental health effects of abuse, mental illness, and addictions. By focusing on these social determinants, they’re hoping to have a higher impact on that will improve medical care for generations to come.

Keep an eye out for empathetic, emotionally intelligent medical sales candidates. You need reps who are able to emote their deep passion for the overall well-being of patients, not just hitting sales numbers.

3. Number crunching wizards

Thanks to inflation, the next generation of healthcare employees have become statistical wizards.

“Unless we increase the performance of our physicians and health systems, premiums and out-of-pocket costs will rise faster than people’s ability to pay. If patients can’t afford care, they’ll have no choice but to delay getting it, often, until it’s too late,” Peal explained.

Grim possible outlooks, like this, are what future healthcare employees are fighting so hard against. They’re constantly thinking about the future and are ready to go to battle for their patients.

So, you need medical sales reps who are quick on their feet. They must not only know their prices inside out but also be able to quickly crunch numbers and show their prices are aligned with the current market.

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What skills do you believe medical sales reps will need to take on the next generation of healthcare employees? Let us know!